Oklahoma Reaches NCAA Tournament Over Much Better Teams Because Trae Young

Dana Schwartz

Season recap: Though unranked to start the seasons, the Sooners-and more specifically, freshman guard Trae Young-garnered national attention quickly as they blitzed through nonconference play.

An anxious week for the Oklahoma women's basketball team ended with jubilation on Monday night when it learned its string of NCAA Tournament appearances will remain intact.

When the bracket was unveiled on Sunday, committee chair Bruce Rasmussen pointed at Oklahoma's quality wins early in the season as being enough to get the Sooners in the field.

The NCAA college basketball tournament takes us to the Midwest Region where the #7 Rhode Island Rams face the Oklahoma Sooners. This comes on the heels of MSU earning the highest end of season ranking in program history.

The last two years, SportsLine's computer simulation correctly predicted nine out of 12 double-digit NCAA Tournament upsets in the first round with their computer algorithm. EC Matthews kept Rhode Island competitive with 20 points and eight rebounds on 7-16 including 4-8 from distance while Andre Berry and Jeff Dowtin combining for 17 points. ESPN's Charlie Creme said Oklahoma didn't deserve a bid. For the first time ever, Mississippi State will be the top seeded team in a region.

How they falter: For as much potential as Oklahoma has, it have an equally likely chance of getting bounced early.

And yet, they'll be dancing in March instead of incredibly more deserving teams.

Chuck didn't say it, but Twitter knew why Young - I mean, the Sooners - made it in over better teams.